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Phase II update

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#28 ·
So...with this turning the 'Wye' into a giant reverse loop...are you going to try to fit a new ...'city'... module or two 'behind' the Kennecott module or 'caddy corner' to the Cicely module?  Off the return loop itself, - not the coal mine spur from 'Cicely'.
 
#37 ·
Hmmm...if I understand things correctly, then 'reverse loop' part of your 'Wye' will be right next to your walkway exiting the Kennecott building and at just about the same elevation...give or take a foot? Not only that, said walkway would run parallel to the reverse loop for...fifteen? twenty? feet before dropping. Seems like to good of an opporunity to put *something* to pass up.
 
#41 ·
I don't think it broke zero here in Kenai all day...or if it did, it were not by much. Stiill warmer than Copper Center, I suspect.

Hmmm...maybe some of this cold and snow should head south for a while...

::tries to envision LA with twenty degree temps and six inches of snow::
 
#47 ·
I'm bringing this reply back up as an example of what I meant as far as paying close attention to the comments made directly to me: Thinker T has a really good point. I will have created a new useful space when this walkway is completed that almost begs for the addition of a new module for my Phase II setup.


Glad to be of help. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to see your line.

Minus 30 this morning. In a way I am relieved that it isn't nearly as cold as it could be, but nevertheless, all this cold air has become rather expensive in terms of heating oil and power consumption.

Right at Zero here...at midday. Temps below -25 are rare in this part of Alaska. Makes me glad I have natural gas (though the bill for that keeps going up and up). Tried using those swirly light bulb things yet? I changed out a bunch of my lights with those things, and the electric bill dropped by 25%. They are spendy litter buggers though.
 
#83 ·
Alaska as part of the "Trans-Global Highway System":

No comments?

I hadn't heard anything in the news recently about a rail link to go along with the gas pipeline project. But with my work sced, I miss the news more often than not.

Last year (or was it the year before?) there was brief mention about a railway tunnel underneath the bering strait - though that was supposed to be a commercial operation. (might have been discussed here for a bit).

Some of the guys at the 'peak oil' board I visit are very much into having the US network of railways rebuilt, on the grounds that rail travel is vastly more energy efficient than hundreds of millions of private autos. However, they point out that such efforts tend to be viciously sabotagued by airlines and pro-car interests.

I would certainly like to see a rail line connecting Alaska with the lower 48. Wonder what it would cost for a ticket from here to VSmiths part of the world?
 
#172 ·
I once had somebody ship me something I'd won off EBAY via UPS: the cost was extortionate (about four times what it would have been USPS) - and they delivered it to my neighbor one street over.

Another outfit I dealt with for some reason regards FedEx as 'normal' shipping; both times those bills were...outlandish. But at least they found me. I am very leery about ordering from them again precisely because of the FedEx thing - they just don't seem to use USPS at all.

I greatly prefer USPS.
 
#185 ·
Note: The real setting is the early 1990s, the same as the original television series Northern Exposure.



Hmmm...an alternate universe where the Cassiar mine project wasn't abandoned, and the rail line eventually built to that point and extended clear to Fairbanks...and where the "million dollar bridge' never collapsed on the Copper River RR, and the Kennecot mines remained open (maybe because of the cold war).
 
#203 ·
But will the cat try taking a nap at that spot when summer hits and the trains are running? And what would the cats reaction be? 'It moves - it must be something to *kill*'? or 'where do I have to go to find a quie place to sleep?'
 
#212 ·
I am monitoring the temperatures and watching the rate of snow melting quite carefully. We are back into the colder temperatures, though not nearly as frigid as before. With any luck this will be the last relatively cold spell. One signficant marker will be the melting of all the snow and ice along the pathway to the structure that I just shovelled out.

As it warms up, my presence here on the internet will diminish until I am mostly occupied elsewhere. Right now there is little else I can do most of the time except wait out the coldest part of the end of winter.



Don't let the cabin fever take over completely now. Even here on the coast, we still have at least forty solid days of snow ahead of us, and another ten days or two weeks worth of mud. Where your at...could be another fifty days of snow, easy. I'm not planning any serious outdoor projects for another two months or better.
 
#215 ·
Two more months trapped in here on this computer? Hmmmm. Let's see . . . March to mid-April . . . That should be about it. By then--mid-April--outdoor activities will be possible and most snow will be gone--although it could still snow. But remember, this lower Copper River valley is practically a desert area. Not much snow.


The mud and flooding of breakup must not be a big deal where you're at then. When I first built the house, my driveway (thanx to critically short funds) lacked proper drainage and promptly turned into a one foot deep, fifteen foot wide and three hundred yard long canal for three weeks. These days its just the mud I have to worry about.

I also note that there is an MLS event in conjunction with a large scale trains show in Phoenix I am going to miss. Can't afford it after this long expensive winter, although if I can possibly make an opportunity at the last minute to go, believe me I will. Not likely or otherwise realistic. And that is really too bad. I would love to have made that one. Oh well. So it goes.

Maybe you'll get a spurt of early spring business - possibly related to the gas line to the states. Juggle some funds, curb the EBAY spending, get an ultra cheap discount ticket somewhere...

Heck, I can't afford to go anywhere either. Been ages since I've even made it to Anchorage.
 
#220 ·
Makes me wonder how this will affect the upcoming tourist season. It is definitely far more expensive to get here than it was even last year.

The drop in tourist traffic was felt here on the Kenai last year as well. Far fewer migrating Bago's than usual; lot of places making less money than anticipated.

Ever considered making your own diesel?
 
#279 ·
Yep, we got temps in the forties here in Kenai as well. Which means the roads that don't melt down to the blacktop will turn into rutted slushpits.

Have the cats moved into Cicely yet?

:: tries to imagine Blackburns reaction when his engine house 'meows' at him ::
 
#285 ·
I was not expecting this continuing rise in energy costs.


Unfortunately, I was. Part of it stems from some 'back of the envelope' calculations I ran twenty odd years ago; part of it stems from hanging around a site dedicated to 'Peak Oil', particularly the financial side of things. It don't look good.
 
#308 ·
Well...have you taken advantage of the mild weather to underwhelm the local feline population with the first train run of the year yet?

:: Older cat watches train rumble by. 'Those things again. They're not food, and they're not a threat, but they can be annoying.' Younger cat steps foward: SWAT! Locomotive falls over. 'See, problem solved.' ::
 
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blackburn49
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